


Falling in French

by cat_halle



Series: Falling in French [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Best Friends, Chicago Blackhawks, F/M, Falling In Love, Français | French, Friendship, Language Barrier, Love, Montreal Canadiens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 02:45:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13285299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cat_halle/pseuds/cat_halle
Summary: There's only two minutes left in the game and the Blackhawks have a 5-0 lead against the Montreal Canadiens. Everyone in the building is sulking, disappointed about tonight's obvious loss. Well, not everyone. There's some 'Hawks fans that are screaming, on their feet, rubbing their victory in the face of the Habs fans. Alexandra is one of them.





	1. Premier

**Author's Note:**

> Every thing in French will be translated at the end in the notes! 
> 
> Other thing: English is NOT my first language, so be nice and please help me fix any mistake by saying it in the comments

There's only two minutes left in the game and the Blackhawks have a 5-0 lead against the Montreal Canadiens. Everyone in the building is sulking, disappointed about tonight's obvious loss. Well, not everyone. There's some 'Hawks fans that are screaming, on their feet, rubbing their victory in the face of the Habs fans. Alexandra is one of them.

 

 

 

 

The Blackhawks don't play until Wednesday, which is four days from now, so, to celebrate a four-games winning streak, they go out. They're in some bar of Montreal, one where they speak English too because Jonny can't translate every time obviously, drinking and laughing.

Alexandra's there too, with her friends that came with her to the game. She's been distracted by a group of screaming guys for some time when one shouts : " Hey, Sharpy? Can you bring Shawzy another beer? He needs something to forget this loss!". And then she recognises them. The one that shouted was Jonathan Toews, number 19 and captain of the 'Hawks, and beside him is Patrick Kane. Patrick Sharp is at the bar, buying beer for his teammates. Alexandra doesn't even warn her friends, she just goes to them. They've always been her favourites, ever since they were drafted ten years ago. Kane is a god at stick handling, probably has the softest hands in the NHL. Toews is her other favourite just because he speaks French and actually seems to care about others, he seems sympathetic. Of course he's a great player, but these are a bonus.

"Hi, sorry to disturb you..."

The two turn towards her at the same time, a surprised look on both their faces.

"Just wanted to say that tonight's game was absolutely beautiful. I was proud to be a Blackhawks fan." She says in an hesitant English, not sure of her accent and her pronunciation.  
"Oh, well thanks..." Patrick seems even more surprised now. "What's your name?" There's a drunk grin forming on his lips.  
"I'm Alexandra"  
"Well, Alexandra, it is a joy to see that we have fans in Montreal! Everyone is so in love with the Canadiens that it seemed impossible!" screams Kane over the loud music.  
"To be exact, I'm not from Montreal. I'm from Quebec City, about 3 hours away from here. We're not big big fans of the Habs since, you know, we had the Nordiques at some point. There's always been some rivalry between Quebec and Montreal." she says, smiling at how Patrick has some trouble not falling from his chair.  
" _Donc tu es plus à l'aise de parler en français_?" Jonathan speaks for the first time. In French for her absolute pleasure.  
" _Oui_." she says, nodding her head.

Patrick seems utterly lost, watching them like they are from Mars.

"What did you just say?" he asks Jonny.  
"I asked her if she was more comfortable speaking in French, Patrick, and she said yes. That's all."  
"Oh well, that's unfortunate because, as you can see, I can't understand French for shit." he laughs at his own joke, which makes laugh the two others, because yeah, it's pretty obvious.  
"Jonny is the only one here that can speak French. Duncs is barely better than Sharpy. Jonny is the only one that grew up speaking French, you know? That's because his mother is from here, her name's Andrée, with the the fancy thing on the 'e' you know?"

Patrick is pretty drunk, babbling about anything and Jonathan seems embarrassed by all the things he's saying about his mom. His cheeks seem to flush a little, but Alexandra can't be sure, it's pretty dark in here.

"I think I will bring him back to the hotel now, eh?" says Jon awkwardly, a tight smile on his face.  
"I know it's not the best moment ever to ask this, but can we take a photo, it's probably the only time I'll ever meet you, so..." she trails off.  
"Yes! Yes, of course!"

A real smile replaces the other on Jonny's face as she opens her phone, ready to take the picture. Jonathan is standing right beside her, and they both smile. Once it is done, Jonny goes back to Patrick, who is struggling to stand properly.

"Do you need me to call you a cab?"  
"That would be very nice of you, actually." Jonny agrees as he nods.

Drunk Patrick is nearly on him, Jonathan basically carrying him out of the bar as Alexandra leads the way. As the three of them exit the bar, the young woman is on her phone, asking in French for a cab. She turns towards Jonathan.

"It'll be here in approximately 10 minutes, that's what they said." she informs him as he places his friend on a bench nearby.

He's not asleep and weirdly seems to be less drunk than a minute before. 

  
" _Merci beaucoup Alexandra, c'est très gentil de ta part."_

_~Thank you very much Alexandra, it's really nice of you.~_

_"Il n'y a pas de quoi."_

_~You're welcome~_

_"Tu sais, toi et lui êtes les joueurs qui m'ont fait adorer le hockey. Et Marc-André Fleury aussi, mais bon. Avant que vous n'arriviez, les Blackhawks étaient plutôt triste à regarder, pas de coupe depuis un petit moment, mais quand vous êtes arrivés... vous étiez tellement beaux à voir sur la glace, comme si vous voliez."_ she admits after a short pause, shaking her head a little as she smiles at the memories.

_~You know, you and him are the players that made me fall in love with hockey. Marc-Andrée Fleury too, but that's another story. Before you were drafted, the Blackhawks were pretty sad to watch, no cup for a long time, but when you came... you were absolutely beautiful to watch on the ice, as if you were flying.~_

  
_"Eh bien, c'est un honneur. Je ne peux pas parler pour lui, mais je suis sûr qu'il serait content lui aussi d'apprendre ça."_ Jonny smiles fondly at Alexandra, liking her more and more as the minutes pass.

_~Well, it's an honnor. I can't talk for him, but I'm sure he would be very happy to hear that.~_

  
" _Ton francais est vraiment bon pour quelqu'un qui habite dans une ville anglophone. Je suis étonnée!"_

_~Your French is really good for someone living in an English city. I'm impressed!~_

  
" _Patrick avait raison, ma mère ne me parle presque juste français depuis que je suis petit, même aujourd'hui. C'est important pour moi de faire honneur à sa culture et d'où elle vient."_

~ _Patrick was right, my mom only talks to me in French since I'm little, even today. It's important for me to honour her culture and where she comes from.~_

  
_"C'est très honorable de ta part. Ah! Le taxi est là_!" she says as car stops in front of them.

_~It's very honourable of you. Ah! The cab is here!~_

She makes a sign to Jonathan after speaking to the driver for a couple seconds, to show him that he can bring Patrick over and put him on the backseat of the car. The drunk man is asleep as soon as the touches the leather, snoring lightly.

"It was nice meeting you Alexandra, I really liked it. _Merci_."  
"My pleasure, really. You don't even know how much this means to me." she replies.

She waves them goodbye, and then goes back to her friends, posting the picture on her Instagram as well as her Twitter, not forgetting to tag them in the picture.


	2. Deuxième

"@88PKane is following you"  
"@88PKane sent you a direct message"

That's what's written on Alexandra's phone. She's been staring at the notifications for a good minute, finger hovering over the screen. It's been three days since she's met the player, and he had written to her, surprisingly. She expected that he was going to forget her, he meets hundreds of fans every year, why would she be special. But here she is, heart pounding in her chest, sweating a little bit to be honest. She finally clicks on the damn notification and Twitter opens on the screen.

@88PKane : "Hi, it's Patrick Kane. We met a couple days ago (I hope you remember because it would be embarrassing if not) and I found you really interesting, you know? And you were really pretty, too... So, I just wanted to, you know, talk with you a little bit more since I was pretty drunk last time..."

Her heart stooped. Patrick Kane remembered her, found her interesting and pretty. He made the effort to search for her on Twitter and took the time to write to her. Shaking a little, she started writing back.

@hallexandra : "Um, hi Patrick, for the info, I do remember our meeting, I wasn't as drunk as you! And thank you for the compliments, it's very nice. What do you want to talk about?"

It took her many tries before sending a message that seemed ok to her. As time passed, she began overthinking her words. Was it rude to comment on him being drunk? Was it weird to thank him because he said these things? Did she seemed desperate? Before her mind could continue, a bubble appeared. He responded.

@88PKane : "Maybe I just wanted to do small talk? Do we really need a particular subject?"

Then, a second later:

@88PKane : "Wait, let me begin: hi, I'm Patrick, I play hockey. And you?"

A laugh escaped her mouth as she began typing her answer.

@hallexandra : "Hi, I'm Alexandra and I love to watch hockey. Who's your favourite player? ;)"  
@88PKane : "We're already sending winky faces? Wow! Right, so my favourite player... I can't say me, so I'll say Sharpy. Who's yours?"  
@hallexandra : "Who do you think it is?"  
@88PKane :"Could be me? Or Jonny, everyone in Canada seems to love him..."  
@hallexandra : "Ah, you too are on the second and third stale of the podium, sorry! Try again!"

He's smiling dumbly at his phone as he types.

@88PKane : "There's way too many players in the NHL, I could never know that!"  
@hallexandra : "I'm sure Jonathan would know, I mentioned it the other night. But you were probably too sleepy to hear though haha"  
@88PKane : "It's not Fleury, is it? Tell me it's not him, please!"  
@hallexandra : "Yes actually, Marc-André is my favourite player. He has been for a long time, longer than you! Why is it bad? He seems so nice and he's soooo good!"  
@88PKane : "EXACTLY! He is my worst nightmare, I swear. I can't put the freaking puck in the net when he's the goalie."  
@hallexandra : "THAT'S why I like him so much. And how did you know? I thought you were sleeping when Jonathan and me were waiting for the cab?"  
@88PKane : "Nope, I wasn't. Was not that drunk you know...  Was a bit lost since you were talking French, you Canadians"  
@hallexandra : "Sorry, I just assumed, but when it comes to drinking, I'm not the best"  
@88PKane : "No? Why?"  
@hallexandra : "I don't drink. At all."  
@88PKane : "Nothing? Never? How? Man, I love drinking to celebrate or to, you know, have a little fun sometimes"  
@hallexandra : "For one, I don't deal with alcohol very well, for two, I am disgusted with the taste of alcohol and three, I don't like the effect. I've never been drunk, I always stopped way before that haha, I am always the one who's driving too, so.."  
@88PKane : "Wow, you Canadians are saints! Jonny is like that most of the time, says that it messes up his diet or something. He's mostly a control freak to be honest haha"

Not knowing what to answer to that, Alexandra waited for him to continue.

@88PKane : "So, you know what I do for a living, can I know what you do?"  
@hallexandra : "I'm a kindergarten teacher in Québec."  
@88PKane : "Oh cool! How old are you?"  
@hallexandra : "I'm 27, and you?"  
@88PKane : "28, going on 29 unfortunately. You seem more mature than me though"  
@hallexandra : "Maybe, I don't know..."  
@88PKane : "So you like working with children?"  
@hallexandra : "Yes, I've always loved children and I knew at a pretty young age that I wanted to work with them."  
@88PKane : "Yeah? When?"  
@hallexandra : "I think I was like 14 when I decided that I wanted to be with kids most of the time and at 16, I knew I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher."  
@88PKane : "Ok, I'm impressed. At 16, all I could think about was hockey, period. Like there was nothing else for me. You were definitely more mature than me!"  
@hallexandra : "I was more mature than most, honestly."  
@88PKane : "I don't doubt it!"  
@88PKane : "What is your full name?"  
@hallexandra : "Alexandra Tremblay Hallé, what's yours?"  
@88PKane : "Patrick Timothy Kane"  
@88PKane : "What were you doing before I texted you?"  
@hallexandra : "I was correcting a homework I gave to my students last week while watching a game"  
@88PKane : "Really? Which one? I'm watching hockey too"  
@hallexandra : "VAN@MIN, boring..."  
@88PKane : "Of course it's boring, it's the Canucks! Penguins vs Rangers is more entertaining, you should watch that one"  
@hallexandra : "Sadly, I can't, it's not on TV in Canada except for NHL Centre Ice, but I don't have that one"  
@hallexandra : "I'm following the game on the app, just to know when there's a goal"  
@88PKane : "Alright"

They continued texting each other for quite a while, smiles on their faces. Little did they know that for the next several weeks, the number of messages sent would increase every day, both of them loving talking to each other. Patrick would text her before morning skate as he put on his equipment, a dumb smile on his lips, the rest of the team glancing at him. He was happier than before, and everybody on the team noticed, Jonny particularly.

"Hey, Kaner! Who's making you smiling like that? Is there a girl that we don't know about?" calls Sharpy one morning.  
"Wh-what?" Patrick sputters, surprised.  
"Ah, he's blushing!" screams Saad who he's beside Sharp.

Patrick would have liked to deny, but he knew he was, he felt the heat in his cheek.

"Guys, let him be." says Jonny, saving his friend from an embarrassing situation.

God knows how noisy the guys could be, especially Patrick Sharp, when they began.

"Alright, alright Captain!"

The two men left, laughing, and began  practising to Pat and Jonny's pleasure.

"So, how's she doing?" Jon asked Pat.  
"She, uh, she's great. She was telling me yesterday what happened with one of her students, and like, this little boy, his name's William by the way, was so angry that he just flipped a desk and three chairs! Can you believe that? A 7-year-old flipping furniture like it was nothing? And she was alone with him in the classroom and then William just ran to her and started crying as he was hugging her. What the hell, right? He did all that just because he missed his mom that was on a trip for her work."  
"You know Pat, you really seem to like her."

Patrick knew Jonathan was being serious about this because he just called him Pat, such he only does when it's about something important.

"Yeah, I mean she's really fun to talk with, we like the same things and all." He shrugged it off.  
"No, I meant that you like her more than just a friend."  
"Um, why, why, would you say that?"  
"Patrick, you hardly do anything else than text her, even when we are going out. You text her before morning skate, after morning skate, before a game, after a game... you're always talking about her with me too."  
"No, I'm not!"  
"Yes you are, and you know it! Don't even try do deny it! It's been a while since we've seen you this happy, man, it's not a bad thing. Are you gonna invite her here, to watch a game? Or maybe you could go see her during our bye week?"  
"I, I don't know Jonny. She lives in Québec and I'm in Chicago, I'm a hockey player and she's a teacher." he says as he shakes his head, eyes staring at the ice beneath his skates.  
"Yeah, and? At least try and you'll see after. Talk with her, that's always a good idea."  
"I don't know Jonny, alright? I have to think about it..."

Patrick leaves Jonathan at the bench as he skates away, his mind spinning a hundred an hour.


	3. Troisième

On December 28th, Jonathan decides that enough is enough. After 3 months of listening to Patrick talking about how Alexandra is so funny and so great, he can't take it anymore. It's been two weeks since he confronted his best friend about a future with her and he still hasn't done anything. To help him, he decides that if Patrick isn't going to invite his "friend" to a game anytime soon, he will be the one to do it. So he texts her, asking her if she wanted to come see their first at-home game of 2018 on January 5th, which is absolutely perfect since it's against the Golden Knights and Fleury. She'll see for the first time a Blackhawks game in the United Centre against her favourite player in the NHL. The morning after, her answer is positive, her plane tickets are bought, thanks to him, and her game ticket is reserved by Jonny himself, waiting at the UC. Everything is perfect, Jonathan is happy and Catherine cannot believe what is happening. Oh, and Patrick has no idea.  


On January 4th, Alexandra's plane lands at exactly 9:25 at the O'Hare international airport. Jonny's waiting in his car, waiting for her to come out the doors. When he does, he jumps out of his car, weirdly nervous.  
Alexandra seems lost, not knowing where to go. Her and Jonny decided where to meet and he described his car, even sent her a photo just to be sure, so that she could recognize it. The problem is that there's so many cars that they look the same, so Jonny waves at her until she sees him. A big smile appears on her face, relieved.

"Hi Jonathan!"  
"Hi, how are you?" he responds, smiling at her while they put her things in the back of the car.  
"I'm good, and you? Not too tired after the game yesterday?"  
"Oh, no. I think everybody slept on the plane and we have a day off today, so it's perfect. Patrick doesn't know you're here, so, if it's okay with you, you're gonna be staying at my house with my girlfriend and I. There wasn't any hotel near. Is that okay?" he asks, worried.  
"Oh, um, alright, if it doesn't bother you two to have a stranger with you..."

She's embarrassed, he can see it in the way her body is tensed and her face. She's a shy person, so staying at a stranger's house, especially Jonathan Toews', is quite a lot.

"No!" he says rapidly, then "No, of course it doesn't bother us! It's a pleasure, really. And to be honest, you're not a stranger anymore. Kaner practically only talks about you, I swear."  
"That much?" she says, blushing.  
"Well, yeah. It's been a long time since he's been so passionate about something else than hockey." he explains to her, smiling. " _Et si tu veux, on peut parler français. C'est rare que j'ai l'occasion de le faire ici_."

They spend the majority of the day exploring the city, even though Alexandra has already been in Chicago once.

Before Alexandra can even realise it, it's game time. Jonny had morning skate really early and then came home, napped, ate and both of them prepared to leave. They leave together a little bit earlier than normal so that he can show her her seat and explain little details about the after game. After that, he leaves to get prepared for the game, leaving her alone in the UC since there's still an hour and a half to wait before the game begins.  
Alexandra cannot believe it. She has never been so close to the rink before, always buying less expensive tickets. But this time, she's just beside Chicago's bench, just beside the players. One hour later, the pre-game begins. All the players come out on the ice one by one. Alexandra searches for her three favourites and find them quickly.  
Patrick is anxious, nervous. Not the same time of nervousness that he gets every time before a game, no, something else. Normally, the weird feeling in his stomach disappears as he skates and shoots some pucks in the net, but not tonight. There's something else. Just as he begins to pick up his pace, he sees her. Alexandra is here. And he can't take his eyes off her. She's watching the other side of the rink so she doesn't see him with his mouth open in surprise. When he finally turns his head away from her, after what felt an eternity watching her, he sees Jon, smiling from ear to ear, watching him from the bench. He skates over to him.

"What the hell, Jonny? Did you bring her here?" he yells.  
"Yeah I did." he replies as he nods. "I did it because you didn't have the guts to do it. So here she is, at her first at-home game of the Blackhawks, you better impress her, mate."

Jonny skates away, proud, as Patrick just stands there, thankful even though he won't say it.

They end up losing 5-4, not even in overtime. Patrick has been distracted the entire time, always glancing at Alexandra. She's cheering for both team, but mostly for Chicago. He doesn't even make an assist. The only reason he doesn't go straight to his house is her. He knows that she'll be near the locker room, maybe in the kind of living room they have here.

"Jonny, where is she?" he murmurs when nobody is listening to them.  
"Probably watching TV if she didn't lose herself in the building because I swear she is the worst to find a seat." he jokes.  
"Yeah, well, I hope she didn't."

Patrick takes what could be the shortest shower of his life and puts on his suit quickly. He doesn't even bother putting his jacket on. He practically runs to the TV room and when he crosses the door, there she is, smiling softly as some highlights of tonight's game appear on the screen.

"Hi"

Startled, she turns her head towards him.

" _Oh_ _mon_ _Dieu_ , Patrick! Hi, sorry, I didn't see you coming in!" she says as she gets up.

Pat just hugs her. He's been waiting for so long to touch her without even realising it. She hugs him back, her head on his shoulder.

"Can I kiss you?"  
"Yeah, you can."

It's the best kiss the both of them ever had. It's soft, delicate, passionate. Patrick's hands cup Alexandra's face and her own hands are at the back of his head, where his hairline is.

"Hi" he says again as they separated.  
"Hi" she giggles.  
"What's funny?" he smiles at her, still quite near her face.  
"Nothing, I'm just happy." she shakes her head a little.  
"Great. Where are you staying?"  
"At Jonathan's. When we looked up hotels for the weekend, there was nothing, so yeah."  
"What about we go fetch your things there and you come home with me?"  
"That would be very nice." she nods as she smiles even more.

Patrick cannot stop thinking about how beautiful she looks. He takes her hand and leads her to the locker room, then to his car. It's quiet, the relaxing kind of silence, in the car as he drives them around the city and the suburbs where a lot of the players live with their family. Jonny does not seem surprised to see Patrick at his door. They talk for a minute then Patrick comes back to the car with her luggage.

"When do you have to leave?"  
"Sunday morning at 9:35, so I have to be at the airport pretty early."  
"No problem. We have tomorrow and you'll be able to see what morning skates and practises look like."  
"For real? I can go?" she asks, excited.  
"Yeah, you'll be my guest. I'm sure Q will be ok with it." he shrugs.  
"Cool. This all seems so surreal, you know? I'm in Chicago, I just saw my first home game of the Blackhawks, and I flew for the first time in my life. I met you, after texting you for three months." she admits.  
"Thank Jonny boy for that, because I was too afraid to do it. I..." he trails off.  
"I understand."  
"But you never took a plane before? Not even when you were little with your parents?"  
"No, we didn't have enough money, we preferred a house that we loved to vacations in Cuba." she explains.

He hums in response and they both fall silent, listening to the music. Alexandra eventually falls asleep on the passenger seat. 30 minutes later, he parks in front of his house, exhausted.

"Alexandra, hey, time to wake up..."

Patrick caresses her hair as her eyes flutters open, disoriented.

"Oh, um, sorry I fell asleep..."  
"No problem. We're here. I'll bring your suitcase, just wait at the door, I have to unlock it."  
"Thank you"

She smiles at him as they get out of the car. Alexandra has to jump out since Patrick's Hummer is so big.

Just before they go to bed, Patrick kisses Alexandra another time.

"I'm really really happy that you're here."  
"Me too"


End file.
